Egypt judiciary extends Mursi detention

Cairo : Egypt’s judiciary said on Monday it was extending ousted president Mohammed Mursi’s detention for a further 15 days pending an investigation into his collaboration with Hamas.

Mursi, overthrown by the military on July 3, was placed in detention on July 26 over his links with the Palestinian Islamist militant group, which rules neighbouring Gaza.

UK evacuates Yemen embassy staff amid threat

Britain’s Foreign Office says it has evacuated all staff from its embassy in Yemen due to increased security concerns.

The moves come shortly after the U.S. State Department ordered non-essential personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Yemen to leave the country following the threat by al-Qaeda that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Middle East and Africa.

Benazir murder case: Court adjourns Musharraf’s indictment to Aug 20

RAWALPINDI: Ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday failed to appear in court to be indicted over the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto due to what police said were security concerns.

Musharraf, who ruled the country from 1999-2008, had been summoned to face charges of criminal conspiracy and the murder of Benazir in December 2007.

Hassan Rouhani becomes new Iranian president

Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, vowed after assuming office on Saturday to work to lift the international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear drive.

My government, "will take fundamental steps in elevating Iran's position based on national interest and lifting of the oppressive sanctions," the moderate cleric said in a first address, broadcast live on state television.

Rouhani was officially endorsed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who praised the newly-elected president's decades of service to the Islamic establishment.

Landslides claim nine lives in Kerala, Kochi airport temporarily closed

KOCHI: Nine persons died and several others were reported missing as a string of landslides triggered by heavy downpour battered the high range Idukki and adjoining districts of Kerala on Monday.

The Cochin International Airport has been temporarily closed and two flights diverted as the runway got waterlogged. Periyar river and canals are overflowing after the downpour lashed the area since Sunday.

The deceased included two children and two women as their houses on the slopes of the hills in Idukki district were swept away by flash floods, police said.

Bashar al-Assad's militias 'cleansing' Homs of Sunni Muslims

The "Shabiha", a loyalist militia drawn largely from the Syrian president's Alawite sect, is systematically looting and then destroying the homes of any Sunnis who have fled the province, a key battleground in the country's civil war.

"They pushed out the rebel fighters and now they are trying to push out all the Sunnis," said Bilal, a 23-year-old from the Sunni village of Talkalakh in Homs province. "They took our houses, threatened us, destroyed our villages."

Six injured in grenade attack on police vehicle in Srinagar

SRINAGAR: Four policemen and an undertrial were among six persons injured on Wednesday in a grenade attack by militants on a police vehicle in Batamaloo area of the city.

Militants lobbed a grenade on a police vehicle carrying an undertrial at busy Batamaloo bus stand around noon, police said.

The grenade landed and exploded inside the vehicle, resulting in injuries to four policemen and the undertrial Shakeel Ahmad Khatana, police said.

Seventeen killed in stampede at boxing match in Indonesia

JAKARTA: Seventeen people were killed in a stadium stampede after spectators rioted to protest a local boxer's loss in a championship match in eastern Indonesia, officials said Monday.

Youth and Sports Minister Roy Suryo said the victims — 11 of them women — were trampled to death as about 1,500 spectators scrambled out the overcrowded stadium to escape the riot that broke out just before midnight Sunday.

Kota Lama Sport Stadium has a capacity of 500 to 600, he said.

Bomb kills four girls at Afghan wedding: officials

KANDAHAR: A bomb attack killed four girls attending an Afghan wedding, officials said on Thursday, blaming the attack on Taliban rebels intending to target government employees at the event.

The children, aged between seven and 12, died when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated as they collected water from a river during celebrations in the southern province of Helmand.

“The children were at the wedding party and this morning they went to collect water when the IED exploded on a footpath,” provincial administration spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

Uttarakhand: 3-yr-old girl with fractures in both legs found abandoned in Gaurikund

Dehradun: A three-year-old girl who has got fractures in both her legs was found abandoned by pilgrims at Gaurikund after the flood fury in Uttarakhand. The minor is unable to communicate anything about herself or about her family's identity.

The pilgrims left her at a Rishikesh hospital where she received primary treatment for two days. Now Dehradun's Child Helpline has taken charge of the girl and have got her admitted to Dehradun district hospital where she has been for the last five days.

Six boys electrocuted, 22 others injured

Jaipur: Six boys on Tuesday were electrocuted and 22 others received burn injuries when a bus in which they were travelling came in contact with a live wire in Churu district.

"The victims, members of a marriage party, were on their way to a village in Sardarshahar town for a marriage when the incident occurred near Lodsar village," SP Churu Omprakash said.

Four killed in Peshawar Judicial Complex suicide attack

PESHAWAR: At least four people have been killed and 27 others injured in a suicide attack at the Judicial Complex located on Khyber Road.

According to police terrorists tried to the enter the courtroom of Additional Sessions Judge Kulsoom Azam who was injured along with others as a result of firing which was followed by a suicide bomber detonating himself.